For the first time today, American air strikes hit ISIS fighters attacking the Kurds in Syria near the city of Ayn al Arab (also known as Kobani). The area has been under assault by ISIS fighters for weeks, and over 150,000 Kurds and others have fled into Turkey to avoid losing their heads should ISIS take the city. At the moment, this area remains the one place in Syria where each of the following is true:
1. ISIS fighters are massed and provide many targets.
2. The opponents of ISIS are fighters who are neither loyal to the Assad regime and its murderous ways nor part of the terrorist orgainizations that dot the landscape of Syria.
3. There is a humanitarian crisis as the civilians of the area are threatened with death, slavery and other horrendous fates should ISIS win.
Put this together, and this area in northern Syria is the one place in that country where US air power could accomplish the most damage while doing the most good for those who actually are friends of America rather than enemies or potential enemies. Despite that, it has taken until now for any American air strikes to hit ISIS fighters in this area.
Now here's the rest of the news from the area. American air strikes today took out two armored vehicles belonging to ISIS according to the New York Times report. That's it. The Kurds are still vastly outgunned since ISIS has heavy weapons and the Kurds have old rifles. Today, however, the ISIS fighters have two fewer armored vehicles. At this rate of attack, ISIS will wipe out all of the Kurdish forces in the area long before American air power makes any real difference.
I know that many of the targets hit in Syria so far have been "strategic" rather than tactical. We are trying to dry up the cash flow that funds ISIS and to put the leadership of ISIS on the defensive. Nevertheless, were American air power to make possible saving the Kurds in the Ayn al Arab area, it would be a demonstration to all in the region that the USA has now fully committed to the battle against ISIS and will crush that group of terrorists.
I just do not understand why president Obama has chosen a half-hearted approach to the fight against ISIS. He wanted allies and he got them. He wanted a new government in Baghdad, and he got it. Nevertheless, Obama is still talking about some sort of political accommodation between the Sunnis and the Shiites at a point when he needs to recognize that ISIS' idea of political accommodation is killing all of the Shiites, Yazidis, Christians, Jews, Bahai, and any other non-Sunni group in the region. Evil needs to be destroyed, not put into negotiations.
1. ISIS fighters are massed and provide many targets.
2. The opponents of ISIS are fighters who are neither loyal to the Assad regime and its murderous ways nor part of the terrorist orgainizations that dot the landscape of Syria.
3. There is a humanitarian crisis as the civilians of the area are threatened with death, slavery and other horrendous fates should ISIS win.
Put this together, and this area in northern Syria is the one place in that country where US air power could accomplish the most damage while doing the most good for those who actually are friends of America rather than enemies or potential enemies. Despite that, it has taken until now for any American air strikes to hit ISIS fighters in this area.
Now here's the rest of the news from the area. American air strikes today took out two armored vehicles belonging to ISIS according to the New York Times report. That's it. The Kurds are still vastly outgunned since ISIS has heavy weapons and the Kurds have old rifles. Today, however, the ISIS fighters have two fewer armored vehicles. At this rate of attack, ISIS will wipe out all of the Kurdish forces in the area long before American air power makes any real difference.
I know that many of the targets hit in Syria so far have been "strategic" rather than tactical. We are trying to dry up the cash flow that funds ISIS and to put the leadership of ISIS on the defensive. Nevertheless, were American air power to make possible saving the Kurds in the Ayn al Arab area, it would be a demonstration to all in the region that the USA has now fully committed to the battle against ISIS and will crush that group of terrorists.
I just do not understand why president Obama has chosen a half-hearted approach to the fight against ISIS. He wanted allies and he got them. He wanted a new government in Baghdad, and he got it. Nevertheless, Obama is still talking about some sort of political accommodation between the Sunnis and the Shiites at a point when he needs to recognize that ISIS' idea of political accommodation is killing all of the Shiites, Yazidis, Christians, Jews, Bahai, and any other non-Sunni group in the region. Evil needs to be destroyed, not put into negotiations.
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